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Appointment with F.E.A.R. (book)
Appointment with F.E.A.R. is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Steve Jackson, illustrated by Declan Considine and originally published in 1985 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 17th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031922-0) and 18th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-527-1). Creation In the "Fighting Fantasy News" section of Warlock Magazine Issue 5, the update on new and forthcoming Fighting Fantasy gamebooks gave a release schedule which included a scheduled September (1985) release of Superheroes, specifically a provisional title. This was to become Appointment with F.E.A.R.. Background The reader assumes the role of Jean Lafayette, secretly "The Silver Crusader", a superhero who protects the fictional Titan City. The reader chooses from four super-powers and battles criminals such as "The Scarlet Prankster", "Dr Macabre", "The Serpent" and "The Alchemists". Besides catching criminals, the reader's ultimate goal is to determine the time and place of the imminent meeting between the leaders of F.E.A.R., the Federation of - Rebels, an Evil organization led by Vladimir Utoshiki, the menacing "Titanium Cyborg" as pictured on the cover. How to Battle the Super-Villains of Titan City/Super Powers and Clues The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *''Appointment With F.E.A.R.'' employs a unique mechanic for the series, Hero Points, which are awarded to the player for every villain captured and disaster averted, allowing them to compare their performance from one play-through to the next. *The player is not allowed to kill their enemies, only disable them, and any death results in the loss of Hero Points. *The player also constantly collects "Clues" not just to the time and place of F.E.A.R.'s meeting but when and where they need to be in order to catch various villains. *Players have the choice of one of four "super powers" with which to play the game: Super Strength, Psi-Powers, Enhanced Technological Skill (ETS), and Energy Blast. Equipment List In the "Background" the player is mentioned as wearing a Crimewatch. No other equipment list is given for the player except those choosing the ETS "super power" which gives them an Accessory Belt. Cover and Illustrations '''Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by Brian Bolland. Appointment With F.E.A.R. was the first book to retain its original cover image when republished by Wizard. #Price of 1st~4th Impressions #Price of 6th Impression #Price of 9th Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by Declan Considine. There were 32 full page illustrations and 5 minor repeated illustrations scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 15, 29, 43, 58, 72, 85, 99, 114, 129, 144, 157, 171, 185, 201, 215, 228, 242, 256, 270, 284, 298, 313, 327, 341, 355, 369, 382, 396, 410, 425 and 440. Intertextual References *The main character buys the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook The Warlock of Firetop Mountain as a gift for his boss and a board game. *The main location for this book is Titan City.It is interesting to note that the book was published in 1985, prior to the publication of Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World, but at around the same time as Out of the Pit, when the world of Titan as a home for Fighting Fantasy was introduced. It may be possible that Titan City was so named to link Appointment with F.E.A.R, which is set in a future timeline, to the otherwise unrelated world of Titan, the home of the majority of the Fighting Fantasy books. Other Media A computer game was planned under the Fighting Fantasy Software brand, to be distributed by Adventure International (UK), sometime after February 1987. However, this was never released. Main Characters YOU: Jean Lafayette aka the "Silver Crusader" *''"Beast-King"'' *''"Chainsaw"'' Bronski *Colonel Saunders - Army officer *''"Daddy Rich"'' *Doctor Charles Crayfish *Drew Swain *''"Fats Bluebottle"'' *Gerry the Grass *Giorgio Schultz aka "The Poisoner" *Grant Morley *Illya Karpov aka the "Creature of Carnage" *Jonah Whyte - Newspaper Editor *Lieutenant Wojak - Policeofficer *Lola Manche - Actress *''"Macro Brain"'' *''"Mantrapper"'' *Marcus Buletta aka "Dr Macabre" *Mustapha Kareem aka "The Mummy" *''"Rat-Face"'' Flanagan *Richard Storm aka "The Tormentor" *Sidney Knox - Research Assistant *Susan Blythe *Sylvia Frost aka "The Ice Queen" *''"The Alchemists"'' *''"The Devastator"'' *''"The Fire Warriors"'' *''"The Reincarnation"'' *''"The Ringmaster"'' *''"The Scarlet Prankster"'' *''"The Serpent"'' *Timothy Grant aka "The Brain Child" *Vladimir Utoshski '' aka "The Titanium Cyborg"'' *Wayne Bruce Locations *2nd Avenue *7th Avenue *9th Avenue *10th Avenue *12th Street *58th Street *100th Street *113th Street *128th Street *209th Street *Addison Square Gardens *Audubon Park *Central Hospital *''Chomsky and Sons'' *Clancey Bay *Clark Street *Cleveland Bank *Cockney Cemetery *Cockney Green *Council Buildings *Cowfield Dairy *Danvers Street *Egyptian Museum *''El Greco's'' *Grimm Street *''Harrold's Department Store'' *''Manny's Coffee Shop'' *Metroville *Murdock Nuclear Laboratories *Natural History Museum *Oceanaria Marina *Parker Airport *Peter Laboratories *Radd Square *Regent Hotel *Schuter Mall *Stanley Pool *Starkers Beach *Titan Central Library *Titan City *Titan Zoo *''Warnum and Wailey's Travelling Circus'' *Whirl's Court Exhibition Centre *Wisneyland *Wormwood Scrubs Encounters *Android *''"Chainsaw"'' Bronski *''"Creature of Carnage/Illya Karpov"'' *''"Daddy Rich"'' *''"Dr Macabre"'' *Fountain Creature *Four-Armed Beast *Humans - Assassin/Bodyguards/Pickpocket *''"Ice Queen"'' *Lions *''"Mantrapper"'' *''"Mummy"'' *Radiation Dogs *Ripper Shark *Sidney Knox *''"The Alchemists"'' *''"The Devastator"'' *''"The Fire Warriors"'' *''"The Reincarnation"'' *''"The Ringmaster"'' *''"The Scarlet Prankster"'' *''"The Serpent"'' *''"The Tiger Cat"'' *''"The Tormentor"'' *''"Tiger Man"'' *''"The Titanium Cyborg"'' Further Notes *The book is also unusual in that there are four different solutions depending on which super-power was selected at the start. In fact, it is possible to complete the adventure twice using two different super-powers without reading any of the sections both times except the first and the last. This adds to the book's replay value, although also to its complexity - a lot of trial and error is required to find any of the solutions. *This book is unique in the series for its use of the superhero genre, and features several tongue-in-cheek references to popular comic book characters. Examples include a dead millionaire called Wayne Bruce and a kidnapped billionaire named Drew Swain (a reference to , whose alter-ego was ), one Roger Stevens (a reference to 's alter ego), and the protagonist's fiery-tempered boss, Jonah Whyte (a combination of and ). Also, two of the locations in Titan City were named Peter Laboratories and Parker Airport, a reference to comic book character , whose alter-ego was . *(157) re-enacts the assassination of President . *Dr Charles Crayfish is working on the " " satellite program launched by US President in the 1980s. *Other plays on names abound with Addison Square Gardens ( ); Starkers Beach being either a nod to of , or linking to "starkers" as being slang for naked (perhaps the beach is a topless beach given reference to "barely dressed girls"?); Aunt Florence as a substitute for Peter Parker's ; Wisneyland as a pardoy of Errors Dedication Dedicated to B.J. ... a Superhero in his own way See Also *''Creature of Havoc'' *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Fighting Fantasy - The Introductory Role-Playing Game'' *''House of Hell'' *''Sorcery!'' *''Starship Traveller'' *''The Citadel of Chaos'' *''The House of Hell'' (Mini-FF) *''The Riddling Reaver'' *''The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'' External Links *Character Sheet *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=54 Appointment with F.E.A.R. at Gamebooks.org] *[http://web.archive.org/web/20051127132124/www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb17.htm Appointment with F.E.A.R. at the Internet Archive record of the old Fightingfantasy.com] *[http://www.fightingfantasygamebooks.com/ff18.htm Appointment with F.E.A.R. at the official Fightingfantasygamebooks.com] *[http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/wizard/wbook.cfm?isbn=1-84046-527-1 Appointment with F.E.A.R. at Wizard Books] References Category:1985 books Category:FF17 Entries Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series Category:Fighting Fantasy Wizard Series